第5周：入侵比利时与坦能堡战役

伟大战争 ･ The Great War

1914年8月28日 纵览1914年8月 当战争在比利时 法国August 28th 1914. Throughout August, 1914, as the war progressed in Belgium, France, 和塞尔维亚不断扩大时 奥德联军在攻占的镇上大肆烧杀抢掠 无恶不作and Serbia, the Austrian and German high command either sanctioned or ignored the widespread 奥德联军最高指挥部对此不是批准 就是视而不见execution and rape of civilians and the sacking and burning of occupied towns. A shocked and 整个世界都为之震惊 为之侧目revolted world looked on. 我叫Indy Neidell 欢迎收看《第一次世界大战》My name is Indy Neidell. Welcome to the Great War. 这周开始时 欧洲战况如下：Here’s where we stood on the battlefields of Europe at the beginning of the week: 西边有三支德国军队——75万人 左翼在洛林In the west, there were three German armies- 750,000 men. The left flank was in Lorraine, 其余的正以每天30公里的速度穿过比利时 这速度十分惊人and the rest were marching through Belgium at 30 km per day, an amazing speed, and pretty 而且大举歼灭了途中相遇的法军 同时约翰·弗伦奇麾下的英国远征军much slaughtering the French armies they encountered, and the British Expeditionary Force under 正从西边靠近 在东边 德军正从东普鲁士撤退John French was approaching from the west. Okay? In the East, the Germans were on the 俄军正在前进retreat out of East Prussia and the Russians were advancing. 现在 在西边 尽管德军在过去几周里取得了不少胜利 局势看起来对德军有利Now, in the west, after all the victories of the past few weeks, things were looking 但是他们的名声却绝非如此good for the Germans but their reputation was doing anything but that, and the atrocities 在西边 德军对平民的暴行有增无减the German troops committed against civilians in the west grew and grew. 在迪南 几个比利时平民对正在修桥的德军士兵开了火In Dinant, German soldiers repairing a bridge were fired on by a few Belgian civilians, 为了报复 德军射杀了超过600个比利时男人 妇女和儿童 8月20号and as a reprisal over 600 Belgian men, women, and children were shot. On August 20th, it 昂代讷 德军司令官冯比洛发布了一项纸质声明happened in Andenne. There was even a printed announcement from German General von Bulow, 张贴在列日 内容如下：“昂代讷的人民先是表现出想与我军和睦相处的意愿posted in Liege that read the following “The population on Andenne, after manifesting peaceful 然后就背信弃义 攻击了他们 在我的授权下intentions towards our troops, attacked them in the most treacherous manner. With my authorization 率领这支部队的将军已经将这个小镇夷为平地 并杀死了110人”the general who commanded these troops has reduced the town to ashes and shot 110 persons.” 在塔明 384个人在教堂附近被围捕射杀In Tamines, 384 men were rounded up near the church and shot. 在罗西尼奥尔 122个人被以支持法军之名处死In Rossignol 122 people were executed for supposedly supporting the French army, who 而他们刚刚遭受过战斗之苦had just themselves been crushed there in battle. 还有很多这种事件 总称为“比利时暴行”There were dozens more such incidents, known collectively as “the Rape of Belgium”, 但在勒芬 情况却完全失控 德军在8月19号就攻占了勒芬but in Leuven, though, it was completely out of control. The Germans had occupied Leuven 25号 来自安特卫普的比利时军多次攻击了德军on August 19th, right? On the 25th, the Belgian army, coming from Antwerp, harassed the Germans, 但攻击一结束 德军指挥官就立马都把账算到了勒芬人民头上but once this was over, the German command decided the people of Leuven were to blame, 所以在接下来的五天内 德军处决了上百名公民 男女都有so for the next five days the German troops executed hundreds of citizens of both sexes, 还包括很多神职人员 德军放火烧了城市 包括其中很多著名的中世纪建筑including many clergy, and burned the city and many of its famous medieval buildings. 国际报道中 目击者的描述骇人听闻 《纽约论坛报》关于该事件的新闻标题甚至是In the international press there were horrible eyewitness accounts and even a headline in “德军洗劫勒芬 杀害女人和牧师”the New York Tribune “Germans sack Louvain, women and clergy shot.”10,000 civilians 有1万平民被迫离开勒芬 开战后几周内 比利时和法国were driven from the city. In total over 6,000 civilians are known to have been killed in 共有超过6000平民被德军杀害cold blood in Belgium and France by Germans in the first weeks of the war. 在这里我必须指出 如今有人认为 人们对德国Now, I have to point out that some people today believe that the charges of war crimes 在比利时和法国沦陷地所犯下的战争罪行的指控被严重夸大 甚至被捏造against Germany in occupied Belgium and France are greatly exaggerated or even fabricated, 但这完全和当代罪证相反 值得注意的是but this is completely at odds with contemporary evidence. And it’s important to note that 军事指挥官不仅是容许了这些罪行these crimes were not only tolerated by military command, but in many cases even sanctioned 更多时候甚至是亲自批准by them. 甚至有一些德国报纸 非但不否认或者掩饰这些事实Even some of the German newspapers, instead of denying or downplaying what happened, tried 反而试图解释并为处决平民和焚烧市镇辩护to explain and justify civilian executions and town burnings. The results of this were 结果不出所料 法国人和比利时人从此恨透了德国人as you’d expect- French and Belgian hearts hardened against the Germans and anti-German 全世界的反德情绪都上涨了sentiment grew all over the world. 英国报纸上关于德军暴行的报道尤其多The stories of German atrocities were particularly abundant in the British papers, where propagandists 宣传者想把人们的注意力从远方的贵族遇害案转到眼前的比利时暴行上wanted to move away from the killing of an aristocrat in a far away country to atrocities 作为必须参战的道德原因closer at hand in Belgium as a moral imperative for fighting the war. This would motivate 这在8月23号德国军队首次入侵英国 发起蒙斯战役时the British troops enormously when, on August 23, the Germans ran into the British for the 大大鼓舞了英军的士气first time in the war at the Battle of Mons. 到现在 德国最高指挥部已经嘲笑了英军好几个星期Now, the German high command had been mocking the British army for weeks and joking that 还开玩笑说他们应该派警察去捉拿英军they should just send the police to arrest them, but the British regulars, the only fully 但是作为欧洲战前唯一完全专业化的军队 英军拖住了数量远胜于他们的德军数小时之久professional army in Europe before the war, held off the numerically superior Germans 造成的德军伤亡是其自身的三倍for many hours, inflicting three times the losses they took themselves. 然而下午德国榴弹炮抵达战场 英军的大炮无法与之抗衡German howitzers arrived in the afternoon, though, with which the British artillery could 只好撤退 当初德军以迅雷不及掩耳之势穿过比利时not compete, and the British began to retreat, parallel to the French retreat as the Germans 击溃毫无防备的法军时 法军也采取了同样的撤退quickly pushed through Belgium and slaughtered the unprepared French army. 在英国撤退的几天里 激烈的战斗一直没有停过There was heavy fighting for the British along the retreat over the next few days, especially 尤其是当他们调转方向 于8月26号驻扎在勒卡托时when they turned and held their ground on August 26th at Le Cateau, long enough for 这段时间本来足够让上千人有序撤离 一名英军上将赫拉斯·史密斯－多伦爵士thousands of men to withdraw in good order, A British General, Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, 决定停止撤退 迎战紧逼上来的德军had decided to stop and fight as the Germans were so close and the rearguard divisions 而后卫部队已经成了一盘散沙 这注定是一场惨败were becoming so scattered that a catastrophic battle was otherwise inevitable. Smith-Dorrien 史密斯–多伦是一位久经沙场的上将 已经随英国殖民军征战世界三十多年was a general who had seen a lot of action, for over 30 years all over the world with 他很清楚自己在做什么the British Colonial Army, and he knew what he was doing. Although the action that day 虽然后来证明那天的战斗比30年后的诺曼底登陆都要惨烈would prove deadlier for the British army than the D-Day invasion 30 years later, Smith-Dorrien 但在前十二个小时内史密斯–多伦震惊了德军 不过英军已经精疲力尽了would give his army a 12 hour start on the Germans, but the troops were exhausted, and 甚至开始有流言说战争在圣诞节时就会结束there was now even talk in the air that the war would indeed be over by Christmas, but 不过胜利的是德国with Germany the victor. 不过德军在东部战线的情况一点都不好Although on the Eastern front, things to that point hadn’t been going well at all for 尤其是在贡比涅战役中 他们吃了败仗 被迫进行撤退the Germans, especially after their recent defeat at Gumbinnen, which caused the German 于是德军总参谋长冯·毛奇罢免了畏首畏尾的司令官冯·普里特威茨retreat. After this, German army chief of staff von Moltke dismissed his paranoid General 重新征用冯·兴登堡取而代之von Prittwitz and brought General von Hindenburg out of retirement to replace him. Hindenburg 兴登堡于1911年退役 但不同于这次战争中许多欧洲司令官的是had retired in 1911, but unlike many of the European generals so far this war, Hindenburg 他从19世纪60年代起就参加战斗了had seen action going as far back as the 1860s. 现在表面上看是俄军在战争中占优势 但他们面临着严峻的后勤保障问题Now, on the surface, things looked good for the Russians, but they had colossal logistical 和通讯问题 他们甚至不给电报加密 所以他们所有的有线通讯都可以被任何人监听到and communications problems. They didn’t even encode their telegrams so all wire communications 曾经有一个很小的事件引发了严重的后果：could be monitored by anyone, and one tiny event occurred that had huge later repercussions: 贡比涅战役后 有人在一名死去的俄国军官身上发现了一张After the battle of Gumbinnen, a note was found on a dead Russian officer that outlined 有俄国所有进攻计划大纲的纸条 有了这份情报most of the Russian plans for their offensive. Armed with this knowledge, Hindenburg and 兴登堡和副指挥鲁登道夫中止撤退 并决定发起攻击his second in command Ludendorff broke off the German retreat and decided to go on the attack. 8月24号 俄军与德军产生冲突 俄军夺得不小的地盘On August 24th, the Russians collided with the Germans and the Russian center made great 不过一切只是错觉 26号 德军西翼打败了俄军左翼progress, but it was a complete illusion. On the 26th, the German western flank cut 并切断了通讯 27号 德军东翼through the Russian left and cut off communications, and on the 27th the German Eastern flank did 又打败了俄军右翼 俄军被围困在了中间the same to the Russian right flank. The Russian army was trapped in the middle, running out 所有补给都即将耗尽 8月28号 他们开始大批投降of basically everything, and on August 28th they began surrendering in droves, nearly 几天之内 近10万人中伤亡的超过5千100,000 men with 50,000 more killed or wounded over the course of several days. This was 这是这次战争中最震撼的失败 也让兴登堡成为了德国英雄the most spectacular defeat of the war and made Hindenburg a German national hero, even 尽管很多功劳应该要归于以冷酷无情著称的德军司令官弗朗索瓦if much of the credit rightly belonged to the ironically named German General Francois. 附近有个村庄叫坦能堡 中世纪时波兰立陶宛联军曾在这里战胜了条顿骑士There was a village nearby named Tannenberg, where in a medieval battle the Slavs had defeated 这场战役便被冠以村庄之名the Teutonic Knights[ad], and this village gave its name to the battle, which would become 这成了德国人的骄傲a big symbol of German pride. 现在局势十分关键 因为东普鲁士完全落入了德国手中This was a big moment, because it put East Prussia now totally under German control. 但是南边 德国盟友奥匈帝国却控制不了局势But further south, Germany’s ally Austria-Hungary was having huge difficulties with control, 奥匈军队还以此为借口 为自己在战争中做过的暴行开脱which the Austrian army used as an excuse for wartime atrocities of their own. 奥匈帝国发动这场战争首先是为了给塞尔维亚一个教训The Austro-Hungarian Empire had launched this war in the first place to teach Serbia a lesson 或者说甚至想从地球上抹去它 这两个国家已经水火不容or even end her existence, and there was no love lost between the two, so when Austria-Hungary 所以当奥匈帝国入侵时 塞尔维亚人民对侵略部队进行了广泛的抵抗——游击战invaded it provoked widespread Serbian civilian resistance to the invading army- guerilla 这有效挫伤了奥匈帝国的锐气 尤其是他们因循守旧的贵族军事领导人warfare- and this really upset the Austrians, particularly their stuck-in-the-past aristocratic 他们想让战争按照他们的想法进行 他们还单方面颁布法令military leaders, who wanted the war conducted on their terms, and they decreed that they 他们会毫不留情地镇压平民的抵抗would deal with civilian resistance ruthlessly. 他们确实这么做了 射杀 吊死 用刺刀刺死 塞尔维亚人民倒在了血泊之中 大多数都是无辜的男女 甚至还有儿童And they did, shooting, hanging, and bayonetting Serbian civilians, most of whom were innocent- 但是塞尔维亚游击队员十分擅长扰乱奥匈行进队列men, women, and even children. But the Serbian guerillas were good at creating chaos in the 总是在等他们路过时 在后面开枪切断他们的队伍Austrian lines, often waiting for them to pass before sniping them with rifles from 这种策略虽然有效 代价却十分高昂——仅在奥匈军队进军的前两周behind. This was effective but it had its cost- an estimated 3,500 Serbian civilians 就有大约3500名塞尔维亚人民被处死were executed during just the first two weeks of the August campaign. 这方面史实证据很多 因为奥匈人从来没And we have a lot of evidence of this because executing Serbian civilians was not something 想要掩盖处死塞尔维亚人这一事实 实际上 奥匈总参谋长康拉德·冯·霍申道夫the Austrians tried to hide. In fact, Austrian army chief of staff Conrad von Hotzendorf 想让人们看见这些惩罚 所以大量处死平民的场景wanted people to see these punishments, so many of the executions of civilians were photographed 被拍成照片发表 大量的杀戮 大片的墓地and the photos were published. Mass executions and mass graves. 这一周即将结束 由于德国占领了东西两侧And here we are at the end of the week, with Germany ascendant in both the east and the 大量惊慌失措的市民——超过一百万比利时人——west, and a terrified citizenry- including over a million Belgians- fleeing from the 踏上了逃亡之路invaders. 很多战前持反战意见的人都在这周内都改变了观念 认为这终究是一场正义之战Many formerly anti-war people decided this week that the war was, after all, justified, 必须不惜一切代价阻止德国的侵略扩张 来保护欧洲现有的文明and that Germany must be stopped at all costs to preserve civilization in Europe, and we 其实不难看出 1914年8月德国对平民的大屠杀see years later that the massacres of civilians by the Germans in August 1914 were a direct 直接造成了战后德国所遭受的严酷制裁factor in the harsh conditions imposed on Germany after the war which indirectly, or 这种制裁又间接 甚至可以说是直接导致了纳粹主义和二战maybe even directly led to Nazism and the Second World War. 战争第一周的视频到此结束 点击订阅可以观看每集视频That’s all for this week. Click subscribe to get each and every episode. 如果你想了解更多关于我们节目的背景知识或者《第一次世界大战》的历史If you want more Background Information on our programm or more history info about WORLD 请关注我们的脸书和推特 喜欢的话请随手分享WAR 1 then follow us on Facebook or Twitter. And share us on those plattform if you like.